Edinburgh: Part Two

Hi All!

Well, as I write this I only have officially four days left in Scotland. How quickly time goes by! I think back to first arriving in St. Andrews and how nerve wracking it was to be in a new environment knowing hardly anyone and now I can't believe all of the great and exciting things that have happened in the last four months!

Enough for the sentimental stuff for now...

Two weekends ago, I know it was THAT long ago, I saw my dad and uncle tommy who came to visit Scotland! Finally, familiar faces!! Here is a quick rundown of what we did:

- Scotsman Hotel - beyond amazing! Great bed, shower, and even a shoe-shining service!! By far the best accommodation thus far!

- Scottish Parliament - craziest building in Edinburgh, doesn't really fit in at all but still a neat place to see!

- Palace of Holyrood - residence of the Queen when she is staying in Scotland. Such a great place to see! We had an automated tour which was wonderful. Very historical and beautiful! (Beds were also very very tiny back in the 1500's)

-Royal Botanic Gardens and Glasshouses! Very beautiful and scenic place in Edinburgh!

- Four hour walking tour of Edinburgh with a lovely little Scottish tour guide (and yes, he was sporting a kilt)

- Edinburgh Castle! Finally got to explore the inside! 1 pm cannon shooting, puppy cemetery, POW prisons, Royal Jewels, etc.

- GREAT food and lots of wine! Haggis attempt #2 - still am not a huge fan! Lots of great seafood (salmon, red mullet which was different but delicious, and lobster!!)

- Anstruther visit #2 - this time it was PACKED! Also found out that Tom Hanks and the Royal Family are big fans of The Fish Bar.

- Tour of St. Andys - including the cathedral ruins, St. Andrews Uni, and Melville! They didn't seem so impressed by my dorm (I told you I wasn't kidding!)

So now in my final week, I am preparing for my last final! My first final went well I think! They are a bit more strict with finals here and it is very formal (even security guards standing outside of the final doors). A bit intimidating but I guess that's what you get for being at St. Andrews.

My room is almost officially packed and my flight takes off on Friday (hopefully the ash cloud doesn't prevent that!)

See you all soon!

Leather

Best picture of Spring Break. Florence - Leather shop with Lorenzo, Casey, Emily! BEST PURCHASES EVER!!

Last weekend getaway - Paris, France!

This past weekend was my last weekend traveling throughout Europe. First, I must say Paris was my favorite destination throughout this experience and a great way to end this time abroad! The scenery, the famous landmarks, and the food were all fabulous and I can't wait until I get the chance to return to Paris! So here is my re-caps of my weekend in Paris:

Friday - Flew in to Charles De Gualle and took the tram to the hotel. I met the other 3 girls I would be traveling with, two Washington College girls studying in Spain and Italy, and one of their roomies in Spain. Our hotel (not hostel!!!) was great and in such a perfect location (The Latin Quarters). Friday we went exploring and made our way to The Louvre. The Louvre was everything I imagined it to be - massive, gorgeous, and crowded! We had free admission because we were students which is always lovely. We walked around for a couple of hours and hung out with the Mona Lisa for a while - kind of crazy how small the actual painting is. Also, there was a rope about 6 feet outside of the painting so people couldn't get to close... along with a glass protector screen and a security guard - heavy! We also saw the famous Wedding Feast in Cana portrait which was massive and took up the entire wall across from the Mona! After taking the obvious tourist pictures outside of the Louvre and meeting some strange French men who were dying to "go to the discotheque" we headed out to find some dinner. We found a lovely little French cafe and just HAD to order escargo - why not! The snails were actually very delicious! I would definitely eat them again! Coca Cola was around 5 Euro so we skipped out on that but did have wonderful quiche and bread!! We headed back to the hotel since it had been a long day of traveling for all of us.

Saturday - We woke up and went to Breakfast in America! Emily told me I MUST go since Scottish breakfast consists of funky meats and beans and we have all been desperately craving some US bacon. The coffee, bacon, eggs, and home fries were all what we expected/wanted/craved and we were all very impressed and satisfied! (So much so that we went back on sunday morning!). After breakfast we headed out to Luxembourg Gardens which were drop-dead gorgeous! The weather could not have been better for our day of exploring Paris. We walked around for a while and headed to the St. Sulpice (I think). We walked along the Seine and saw all of the famous sites you hear about. We also saw locks hung from one of the bridges over the Seine. Apparently, it is a famous world-wide tradition that sweethearts place love padlocks on bridges around the world which of course is very romantic, as is everything in Paris! We also explored Notre Dame - very cool! We walked along the Champ De Elysee, hung around the Arc for a while and then headed off to find the Eiffel! As we were exploring the streets looking for it we realized we were standing about a block away - which Im sure was a look of shock and awe for all of us when we realized we finally were at the Eiffel Tower!! We took pictures in the daylight and then headed off to find Moulin Rouge. We took a metro into a semi-shady area of town and finally found the famous landmark. After a quick pic we decided to head back to the more secure part of Paris. We picked up loaves of bread (because that is literally ALL you see people carrying around), some cheese, and some wine and headed off to a picnic under the Eiffel. We hung around until about 9 pm when the lights finally came on! It was breath-taking and so picture perfect! Around 10:30 we bought tickets and headed up to the second tier of the tower. The ride was a bit scary since I am suddenly afraid of heights but the views at night were so worth it! We finally headed down after about an hour. After a stop at a delicious crepe shop (yummm banana and nutella) we headed home after a long day of exploring.

Sunday - Woke up to head to the American breakfast place again!! So delicious and makes me want to get back to America soon for the delicious diners! It was a bit rainy which we expected - but since we had such great weather the day before it didn't matter so much. We did a little shopping and headed to the airport to travel back to our separate countries.

Now, I am off to Edinburgh tomorrow to meet up with dad and uncle tommy for the weekend. It will be nice to show them around St. Andys and Edinburgh!! Maybe they will try haggis/black pudding??

After this weekend, I only have one more weekend left in the bubble! Crazy how time has been flying so far!! Only 16 days and I will return to America!!

That's all for now! I will update after this weekend in Edinburgh!

Peace & Love in Belfast

Hi all!!

This past weekend Natalie and I traveled to Belfast, Ireland. Our hall warden is originally from Belfast and told us we MUST visit before we return to the states. We arrived Friday morning - thank god the volcanic ash finally let up! After a quick 25 minute flight we took a bus to our hostel and met William, the hostel owner/manager. We learned William is a bit of the adventurer.. even going so far to find an adventure that he paid rebel soldiers in the Congo to let him ride around the back of their jeeps with them during the civil wars. A little bit crazy but he seemed like a fun character! He told us in a few years he was going to buy a motorcycle to explore the USA and Mexico for a while. It's nice to see people just living on the edge I suppose - not many people are like that anymore it seems. William gave us great advice on what to do in Belfast and most of them were free which was great because I was on a very strict budget - i promised myself I wouldn't spend over 120 GBP. First, we took a walk to the Botanic Gardens which sit right behind Queens University - one of the most prestigious uni's in Ireland. The gardens were of course beautiful and smelled fabulous! After a quick stroll we headed inside the Ulster Museum which is in the gardens. The museum was great and had 3 different floors - one for art, history, and nature. I think the best part of the museum was the section on "The Troubles" of Northern Ireland. The gallery gave information back to the 1960's when the troubles began all the way up to the recent violence. Since we both knew little about the history of Belfast, it was a great learning lesson and was really interesting. After spending a few hours in the museum we decided to nap because we had been up since 5 am to catch our early flight. After a quick snooze we headed out to explore Belfast City Hall and then went to one of the largest shopping areas in Belfast. The mall had a great dome on the top and visitors can take pictures of the entire city from the top. The views were wonderful! William gave us 10% off coupons for Lavery's, a local pub, for dinner so we headed there next. Natalie suggested ordering Irish soda bread because she is a big fan in the states. Unfortunately, the soda bread was different than expected and I don't think either one of us enjoyed it too much. We did have great fajitas though (I know.. very Irish). After Lavery's we headed to the Crown Bar which is basically the oldest/most famous pub in Belfast. Of course it was very local and we were the only females under the age of 40 there. We enjoyed a pint (not Guinness) and met some locals. After that we headed back to the hostel to call it a night.

Saturday morning we got up and William made us the traditional English breakfast (eggs, bacon, beans, tomatoes, and toast). We planned a trip to see Giant's Causeway the day before. The tour began at 9:30 am and went until 6:30 pm so we knew it would be a long day. We grabbed some bagged lunch and headed off to the bus. The bus tour was great and took us all along the coast of Northern Ireland - making stops at various castles, a distillery, Carrick a rede rope bride, and finally Giant's Causeway. There are many myths about how Giant's Causeway was formed but basically it is a large area where volcanic activity stirred up millions of rocks and now there are all formed into octagon shapes. We climbed all over them and had lunch with a great view! I also met a man on the bus who was from South Philly and had grown up around my area at home - small world huh? After returning from our bus tour we headed our for some dinner. We went to Maggie May's, suggested by William, and had a wonderful meal. We asked William where to go for local, traditional Irish music and he suggested Kelly's Cellar. They had great live music (the drummer of the Sex Pistols was performing there too!). We had a pint and met some Americans who were visiting Belfast as well - we assume. At around 1 am we decided to call it a night and headed back to the hostel.

Sunday morning we had our breakfast (minus the beans this time) and took a black taxi tour of Belfast. Apparently it is one of those things you MUST do when visiting the city because it gives all the history of Belfast during the troubles from both the Catholic and Protestant viewpoints. The tour was really informational, I am really glad we chose to go! The mural were a bit creepy but very powerful. Some of the streets are still blocked off at night due to the violence which is a bit alarming but Belfast is ranked as the second safest city in the world for tourists behind Hong Kong which was interesting. We even got to sign the Peace Wall which is in the pictures above. It is really powerful to see all of the messages people wrote from all over the world over the past 40 plus years. After the hour and a half tour we headed to the airport. On the way to Belfast Int'l we drove past the shipyard where the Titanic was built (H&W). It was cool to know that Belfast used to be the biggest shipyard in the world! Also, Belfast was humiliated after the Titanic sunk and I guess that is when the popularity diminished. Twenty five minutes later we landed in Edinburgh and headed back to St. Andrews. There were around 20 Scotsman on our plane, all dressed in kilts, and all very drunk I am assuming. People in Ireland and Scotland drink way more, and way earlier than us Americans it seems. Also note... they definitely do not wear ANYTHING under their kilts. I asked... and then some drunk man decided to show me. Very large mistake on my end.

All in all it was a great trip with lots of history and information! Belfast is a city that only needs a weekend to be explored since it is so tiny but definitely worth seeing at some point!

Next weekend I am off to Paris - and my flight is officially re-booked for May 21 so I will be back in the states in 25 days! How crazy time has flown!

St. Andrews 101

Since I have been living here for three months, I figured I would give a little lesson on some interesting things I have witnessed/experienced in my stay here:

1. Never, under any circumstances and regardless of what anyone says, consume the "chicken" pizza at Empire. EVER. It is literally lethal.

2. People here use the word "pissed" to describe being "drunk". Take caution. Also, "cake" is known as "pudding" while "pudding" is known simply as .. "goo". You could be in a serious situation if you confuse ANY of these words.

3. People in St. Andrews, and I'm guessing Scotland in general, ALWAYS allow their dogs to run around without leashes...

4. Which wouldn't be weird... but people in St. Andrews ALWAYS have their children attached to leashes.

5. People drive on the wrong side of the road and walk on the wrong side of the sidewalk. Don't let me drive here because I have become so confused I have just begun walking in the middle of the sidewalk.

6. The wind WILL knock you down on your hands and knees when you are least expecting it!

7. Regardless of Eyjafjallajokull, we are still determined to make it to Belfast this weekend!

That's all for now :) .. don't worry I'm sure I will be updating this as time goes on!

More Spring Break 2010 Photos

A. Day Trip to Cap d'Ail - location of Crazy Bread Man, cliff jumping, and probably Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.

B. Ponte Vecchio Bridge in Florence

C. Easter Sunday "Explosion of the Cart" in Florence

D. Overview of Venice on top of San Giorgio Tower

E. Beach Day in Barcelona

I Survived Spring Break 2010

Well hello there!!

I am finally back in good ol' St. Andrews, Scotland after an.. interesting Spring Break. The past two weeks have taught me more about myself, other people, and life in general than I could have ever imagined. Before departing to all of these wonderful countries, I imagined traveling being glamorous, sexy, and relaxing. SO WRONG. Traveling is the grossest, least sexy, and most stressful experience I think I have ever partaken in! Before I get down to the nitty-gritty, heres a little update.

Here's a little recap for all of you who forgot where I traveled:

March 31-April 2 - Venice, Italy

April 2-April 5 - Florence and Milan, Italy

April 5-April 8 - Nice, France (with stops in Cannes and Cap d'Ail)

April 8- April 11 - Barcelona, Spain

I would have to say southern France was my favorite destination out of the entire trip. The weather, beaches, and hostel were by far the best. I have to admit, I was a little underwhelmed with Italy - especially Florence. I think the crowds and weather played a big factor in that.

I SURVIVED:

1. Group awkwardness - Group awkwardness became the reason for many people in my group literally losing their minds by Day 4. I traveled with 4 other individuals - 2 girls, 2 boys. No complaints about the girls on the trip - I have never grown so close to 2 people in such a short span of time. While no actual names shall be referenced in this blog, one particular individual quickly became the epicenter of the entire group's frustration. I am not one on very timely schedules, nor do I think vacation should be planned out accordingly by 8 am every morning. I do not like being rushed during site seeing, rushed during relaxation time, and especially not rushed during meals. This quickly became problematic, as you may have already imagined. Once France hit we all realized we needed "solo days" to cope with the growing concern over one particular group member. We did survive though - Emily and Casey, you guys struggled but eventually came out on top. I want to thank you for being there for me during those touch and go moments where I am sure neither of you knew if I would come out of Spring Break alive. Casey had to cut out of Spring Break a little early due to the extent of the awkwardness but she was still a trooper through the 20 mile plus runs through Venice.

2. Broken feet/growing 5 extra toes - funny story goes along with this one. You would think sneakers were a good choice while traveling 2 weeks in 3 countries right? Well, my sneakers started to hate me - I'm guessing due to the hundreds of miles ran throughout Italy. Eventually, my toes started growing toes and now I am left with way too many toes to count. The broken ankles story goes back to Nice, France. I have never felt more like I was participating in a movie than when I was bookin' it through the streets of France to make a train leaving for Cannes in approximately six minutes. This event may not seem so traumatic but when you have wood-like flip flops on and you take them off to run BAREFOOT through the streets it becomes a survival tactic. My choices were limited to: A. Walk to the train station in a reasonable fashion, miss the train, and be stuck in Nice all day to participate in more group awkwardness. B. Run through the streets of France WITH my flip flops, inevitably trip during some point, possibly break more crucial bones, and still probably not make the train. Or C. which seemed like the option which would give me the greatest chance of survival: Take off wooden flip flops, book it through the streets (breaking ankles/tearing both Achilles tendons in the process) and cut down the 15 minute walk to a mere 3 minute run. Good idea right - especially since the train didn't leave for an actual TWENTY MINUTES. Thanks France transportation strike.

3. Easter in Florence - Italy was wonderful.. I mean what is not to love about Italy. The food was amazing (bread, however, not so magical). Great wine, great views, great memories. The tradition in Florence on Easter is the "Explosion of the Cart" which takes place around 10am. Needless to say, the streets were a mob and people became very pushy to see the explosion of the cart/white oxen/pink smoke which happens after the explosion. Emily, Casey, and I landed ourselves on Italian television after pushing our way to the front of the mess of people - not a huge deal, it's just that we're pretty famous in Italy now.

4. RyanAir - This story is by far the WORST part of my spring break 2010. I packed one small bag (Thanks Natalie) to bring to Europe. I traveled from Edinburgh to London, London to Italy, and France to Spain with said bag. During all three flights, all three airports and airlines had no issues with my bag (by the way, French airports clearly do not have an issue with you bringing razor blades on the flight - very safe). The Girona airport, however, seemed to believe that my bag did not fit regulation RyanAir travel restrictions. This led to numerous layers of clothing being added to our already sweaty bodies (ex. Jackie putting space bags in her jackets, Emily sporting 11 plus t-shirts, Brad wearing his denim vest?) to make sure our bags were good to go. After making sure our bags fit properly in the particular limits, a particular Gironian employee decided to make us check our bags for a steep 35 Euro. After arguing for a good deal of time about how our bags DID in fact fit, she proceeded to inform us the plane would be leaving without us unless our 35 Euro fee was paid. Due to the trauma inflicted upon me by RyanAir, I will never EVER travel with them again - and made it blatantly clear to the woman working in Girona.

5. Hostels - We stayed in four different hostels in Europe. Two in Italy, one in France, and one in Spain. In Spain, I had to book apart from the other 9 people because I was only staying two nights. This led to awkward encounters with a French woman who was trying to explain her life to me while I looked at her shaking my head in confusion (this lasted for a good 15 minutes.) Hostels made me realize how much I LOVE my alone time and how important personal space is to anyone. Living on top of 4 people for two weeks is a different kind of living. Too many germs, awkward stories, and mental breakdowns are shared when you are constantly surrounded by the same group of people. You definitely learn so much about people and grow very close to them - which can be a great thing! During our stay in the Florence hostel, my group encountered a crazy Amazonian man but we shall return to that later. Hostels also do not provide soap which leads to "I survived" #9.

6. Craziest People Alive - #1. Montana. His name says it all.. right? This guy was a true piece of work. On the train from Florence to Nice we met a promising individual who went by Montana. This guy must have been living in Montana land - we learned throughout the 2 hour train ride that Montana had lived in New York, Miami, LA, Spain, Italy, France, London, Paris, was a magazine owner but had no business card, had a blonde child when he was African American, and had a severe obsession with Moroccan young girls, and was just "a happy boy making a lot of money". Two other young American college tourists on the train eventually asked Montana for his phone number so they could meet up in Cannes.. some people never learn. #2. Crazy bread man. Eric and I took a day trip to Cap d'Ail for the "solo day" segment of France. The scenery was something out of a painting and the weather was perfect. We are guessing this man was the local baker - well.. we are hoping. He was wearing a fanny pack, a visor, and running pants and proceeded, for a food 30 minutes, to walk to and from a little hut next to the beach. gather 3 loaves of bread and break them apart into the ocean. I am all for feeding the birds and all, but this guy only brought THREE loaves each time. Why would you not just bring a bag of bread and save yourself the time? Crazy French people. #3. Amazonian man. Our hostel in Florence was great - equipped with a pool, sauna, and exercise area. What we did not know the hostel provided, however, was lice. Our hostel was a 6 person hostel - and our group filled 4 of the beds since Eric had to sleep elsewhere. The other two individuals in the room were.. interesting. They barely wore clothes, had hair down to their rears, and did not speak a hint of English. Casey got stuck bunking under the one individual and the next morning INSISTED we change rooms due to the lice she swore she contracted from Amazon man, even refusing to shower because "lice mate more when your hair is clean". We eventually switched rooms into a personal room which was lovely. Casey never got lice, thank god. We all would have suffered through that one. Thanks for being a trooper Casey.

7. Italian Police Chase - One of the most exciting points of the journey. While hanging out in San Marco Square one night in Venice we kept seeing men standing on the sides of streets with fake designer bags laid out in front of them. Apparently these men are used to being run down by the police because all of their bags sit on blankets and when the police are sighted, they just wrap up their blankets and book it. We were caught in the middle of one of these chases.. and these men do not stop for anything. My leg was caught mid-chase by a fake bag. It was a terrible pain but a good story. The physical war wounds will fade, but the mental war wounds shall not.

8. Homelessness - Last day of the journey. Location: Barcelona. Had any of us showered in 72 hours? NOPE. We got kicked out of our hostel at 11 am and had to find something to do until 5 pm. We slept in a park - what else? All 8 of us either got pooped on by birds, sat in bird poop, or got peed on by a bird (in the mouth.. ew). We should have picked up a book about how to be homeless, as a group we weren't so successful.

9. Near-Death Sickness - Day 2. Location: Venice. One of our group members, once again not mentioning particular names, contracted some terrible cold right before Spring Break. Obviously due to the lack of soap in hostels and close living quarters, we were all bound to get this sickness at some point. I was inflicted first - and it did not end until... well I actually still have it! Casey also become near-death and we had to nurse her back to health with hostel cookies and wine, we think it worked. I have never cherished soap so much and will never pass up a chance to wash my hands... ever again.

10. Do I need a #10? ... Come on - Has this story been enough for you to handle? Are you exhausted just reading it? Two weeks in the life of backpackers in Europe was enough for me to handle. For future travelers, I would recommend always booking private hostel rooms, buying a baseball hat to cover up your nastiness after not showering, and always having plenty of anti-bacterial soap on hand to prevent Malaria, Swine Flu, SARS or any other infection readily available in European hostels.

It's good to be home!